Legislation Introduced To Eliminate Mandatory Retirement In British Columbia

Originally published in the May 2007 Farris, Labour and Employment Update Newsletter of Farris, Vaughan, Wills & Murphy LLP.

The British Columbia Human Rights Code (the "Code") currently prohibits age discrimination against those aged 19 – 64. Therefore, it has not been discriminatory under that legislation to deny employment because a person is 65 or older. However, a planned change to the definition of "age" in the Code will change that.

On April 25, 2007 Attorney General Wally Oppal introduced Bill 31 Human Rights Code (Mandatory Retirement Elimination) Amendment Act, 2007. Bill 31 seeks to extend the protections of the Code beyond age 64. This change will render discriminatory any policy requiring retirement at a particular age (in any industry governed by the provincial Code). It will also be discriminatory to deny employment to any person 19 or older on the basis of age. The effective date for this proposed change to the law is January 1, 2008.